Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has sympathy with Premiership defenders who must face a rampant Blues scoring machine. Chelsea rested a host of first-team players for the Carling Cup home defeat by Newcastle but they are set for much-needed recalls as Carlo Ancelotti looks to build on an unbeaten start in the league.
Chelsea have secured five straight league wins over West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, West Ham and Blackpool but City will present them with a different type of challenge.
However Mikel is warning that any defender facing Chelsea must be running scared after the Blues smashed in 21 goals in their opening five league games.
He said: "If I was a defender playing against Chelsea, I would be very scared because you don't know where we're going to come from - we have Ashley Cole bombing forward on the left side all the time.
"So it is hard to know what to expect when we have all these players bombing forward all the time.
"If you look at our front three, none of them have a static position, they are all moving around.
"It is the same with the midfield although I tend to stay a little bit more because I cannot afford to leave that position.
"Playing that way helps us a lot while the other team is thinking about whether to follow Nicolas Anelka's runs, Frank Lampard or Michael Essien."
